This invention relates to gunsights in general and more particularly to a gun sight which can be employed for either nighttime or daytime operation and which is particularly adaptable for small arms such as rifles, pistols and so on.
As one can ascertain, the prior art is replete with various devices generally designated as sights. In general a sight is utilized for aiming a gun at a directly visible target. In order to aim a gun some form of sighting device is required Such devices range from simple front and rear sights like those on an ordinary rifle to complex fire control systems for large guns. The sighting device may move with the gun barrel or may be separate from the gun elevating mechanisms. In general the use of such sighting devices in guns is well known.
There are other devices which further enhance the ability of the user to aim the gun such as telescopic sights and other sighting devices which may be utilized during nighttime operations. As indicated, the prior art is replete with a number of devices of various types and natures which assist the user of a weapon to aim the same. As indicated, certain sophisticated sighting devices such as telescopes are utilized to magnify a target and to enable the user during
normal daytime operation to achieve a magnification of the area or target area at which he is aiming. There are also nighttime vision devices or sights which employ image intensifiers or similar structures.
The function of an image intensifier is to multiply the amount of incident light received by it to produce a greater signal for application to the eyes of a viewer. As such, these devices have been employed by the military and in commercial devices as well. Examples of early uses of such devices can be had by reference to a text entitled "Photoelectricity and Its Applications" published in 1949 by John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 18 entitled "Light Beam Signalling and Infrared Detection" shows examples of early nighttime vision device which may be employed as gun sights such as the Sniperscope and Snooperscope.
In any event, it would be desirable to provide a universal gun sight which can be employed on small hand held firearms such as a single shot, semiautomatic and automatic rifles as well as pistols. The small arms sight system to be described hereafter replaces conventional iron sights as open sights and peep sights as well as conventional telescopic sights which are used on a host of such small weapons. It is desirable to provide a universal gun sight for a hand held firearm which gun sight will enable one to aim the gun during nighttime or daytime ambient conditions.
As indicated, there exists in the prior art small arms sight systems which utilize telescopic means for providing sighting on a gun. These systems cannot be used during a lower light level or nighttime conditions. There are further sights as for example those used by the military which are large, heavy and bulky and are not an integral part of the weapon as will be described. Hence it is a desire of the present invention to modify the design of a conventional optical telescope sight to utilize an image intensifier to with sufficient optical gain so that the sight can be employed under nighttime or daytime ambient illumination conditions.
The sight is designed in such a manner that the image tube module or intensifier tube can be easily removed. In this manner the system can be quickly and conveniently modified to operate under both daytime and nighttime conditions. The particular mounting of the system enables it to be mounted in a mechanical housing which is an integral part of the weapon receiver. This mounting technique thereby eliminates problems of misalignment between the weapon base and the telescopic sight.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a sight structure for a small weapon which enables the weapon to be utilized during daytime and nighttime operations while providing increased effective weapon range when compared to conventional sighting systems for such firearms.